As for the large number of assassins cautiously approaching from the farmland on the left and right, Zhou Ziwei was responsible for hunting them down by himself.
He gently pulled open his shirt, and there were three new-style cross darts gleaming with a faint silver light stuck in Zhou Ziwei's waist.
In the blink of an eye, the three new-style cross-shaped darts transformed into three streaks of silver light and flew up from Zhou Ziwei's waist with a "whoosh," passing through the car window and disappearing into the vast night.
"Ah... what is that?" Chen Linlin exclaimed in surprise when she suddenly saw a flash of silver light in front of her.
Because Zhou Ziwei was sitting sideways, she didn't see the three new-style cross darts stuck in his belt, but she was still terrified by the sudden appearance of the three silver lights.
"Hehe...that's a flying sword."
Zhou Ziwei started making things up as if it were a joke, saying, "Haven't you read any fantasy novels? What I just released were three legendary flying swords, the kind that can travel thousands of miles in an instant and behead people as easily as taking something out of a bag."
Chen Linlin was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then spat softly and said, "Nonsense, I don't believe there are really gods in this world. Besides... even if there are gods, they shouldn't be like you."
"Hehe... If you don't believe me, fine, I have no reason to force you to believe me..." Zhou Ziwei's expression suddenly changed slightly as he said this, and he abruptly turned his head and opened his mouth wide in front of the farmland on his right.
Chen Linlin looked at Zhou Ziwei from behind in surprise. It seemed as if Zhou Ziwei was shouting at full power, but miraculously, she didn't hear any sound at all.
However, at that moment, a strange dizziness suddenly came over her, causing Chen Linlin to tremble all over and her mind to become confused. She almost fainted.
How could this happen? Do I have some kind of strange disease?
Chen Linlin was horrified, but fortunately, the dizziness came and went quickly, disappearing completely in an instant without leaving any trace.
At that moment, Zhou Ziwei stopped his silent shouting and let out a slight sigh of relief.
He turned to look at Chen Linlin, who was still somewhat dazed, and said, "Alright...it's all finally over. I've eliminated all those assassins. How about it? Want to come with me to take a look?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Linlin snapped out of her daze, shook her head, and after the aftereffects of the inexplicable dizziness in her head gradually disappeared, she looked at Zhou Ziwei in surprise and said, "What... you've already eliminated them all? This... how is this possible? You haven't even gotten off the bus yet... and it's already over."
Zhou Ziwei chuckled, pointed to the several cars that had suddenly gone out of control on the roads in front and behind, and said, "Otherwise, do you think the drivers in those cars are all crazy? Hmm... You're a girl, if you're afraid of seeing dead people, then you can wait here by yourself! I'll go for a bit, I'll be right back..."
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he immediately opened the car door and jumped out. Only after Zhou Ziwei reminded Chen Linlin did she realize that the cars that had been driving towards them at the same time had all inexplicably stopped. Some of them had collided with each other, while others had jumped off their horses and crashed into the farmland or ditches next to them.
Upon seeing this scene, Chen Linlin was once again plunged into a state of utter stunned silence... Yes... If he hadn't already killed everyone in the cars, then were all the drivers in those cars insane? The cars were driving so slowly, yet they still managed to crash into each other, and even... drove themselves into the ditch.
But... he really didn't get out of the car, so how did he manage to eliminate all the assassins who surrounded him? Could it be... that the three beams of light that flew out of the car were really his flying swords, and... that silent roar he gave earlier... killed those assassins just like that? If all of this is true, then doesn't that mean... he really is a god, a legendary omnipotent god... a sword immortal who can only exist in fantasy novels?
Chen Linlin really couldn't accept this crazy explanation, but otherwise she couldn't explain what was happening in front of her. So after hesitating for a moment, she finally couldn't help but jump out of the car and follow closely behind Zhou Ziwei, walking towards the farmland on the left.
Following closely behind Zhou Ziwei, Chen Linlin's mind was still filled with countless huge question marks. If all those deaths were in the car, why did he turn around and head this way? ...Right...Two of the three silver lights that flew out of the car just now seemed to be flying this way. Could it be...that they were really flying swords?
Just as Chen Linlin was muttering to herself, she suddenly saw three silver lights fly from both sides, almost like three bolts of lightning, and suddenly shoot straight at Zhou Ziwei in front of her.
"Ah—" Chen Linlin was startled again. She had thought Zhou Ziwei would be injured by the three silver beams, but after blinking nervously, she saw that Zhou Ziwei seemed to be unharmed. He simply waved his shirt and zipped up his open jacket again.
"Ah... Could it be that he... he absorbed those three flying swords into his body?" Chen Linlin had actually read quite a few fantasy novels before, and knew that sword immortals usually had to treat their flying swords as magical treasures and absorb them into their bodies to constantly nurture them in order to unleash the spiritual power of the flying swords. The scene she just witnessed made her believe even more of Zhou Ziwei's nonsense.
Wandering through waist-deep crops, Chen Linlin followed Zhou Ziwei, her steps uneven. Seeing that although Zhou Ziwei walked much more gracefully than she did, he still had to constantly part the plants in front of him to make his way forward, she suddenly smiled.
I'm so stupid. I almost fell for this guy's nonsense... If he really were a god, he would have flown straight to his destination on his sword long ago. Why would he be walking around in the fields like this? Haha... I actually believed such a baseless lie. Could it be that after all the frights I've had today, my IQ has really dropped?
"Hey...aren't you done playing around...is it fun to lie to an ignorant woman like me? You...where are you going...?"
Seeing that Zhou Ziwei was still walking through the rice paddies with a cold expression, Chen Linlin couldn't help but stop and yell at him in an annoyed tone.
Not long after Chen Linlin finished speaking, Zhou Ziwei took a few more steps forward, then suddenly stopped and stood there motionless with his back to Chen Linlin.
"What's wrong? Are you ashamed because I exposed your lie? Never mind... I know you were just joking with me because you didn't want me to be scared. I won't mind... If there's nothing else, I... I'd better go back to the car, okay?"
As Chen Linlin spoke, it suddenly dawned on her... Zhou Ziwei was most likely just joking with her, and thought she was too scared to come with him. And why would he... just wander into this field alone for no reason? Uh... maybe he just wanted to find a place where no one could see him to relieve himself. It's ridiculous that she'd been following him the whole time; how could he possibly relieve himself in front of her... Looks like she really was quite foolish...
Thinking of this, Chen Linlin's pretty face immediately turned red with embarrassment. However, before she could turn around and leave, she heard Zhou Ziwei coldly say from the front: "It's good that you go back... There are no dead people here, and nothing to see. I will go back to find you after I refine the souls of these people."
Upon hearing this, Chen Linlin stumbled and nearly fell into the field. She couldn't help but turn around and glare fiercely at Zhou Ziwei, saying, "Are you kidding me? You're still... still playing around... You actually said such nonsense about refining souls. Do you really think I'm a three-year-old girl? Humph... I can't see the souls you're talking about, but I want to see where the dead people you're talking about are."
Chen Linlin really didn't believe in that superstition. After saying that, she immediately turned around, hurriedly ran to Zhou Ziwei's side, peeked ahead, and was immediately terrified...
Dead people... There really are dead people here, and not just one or two, but a total of eight.
Moreover, judging from their clothing, these eight dead men looked similar to the men they had seen in the stadium's parking garage. They were also carrying various weapons, most of which were advanced firearms, while a few held sharp daggers or knives.
But... now all of these people are dead, and all of them are dead. Each of them has a bloody hole in their forehead, looking like they were pierced by a sharp sword.
And even now, the wound is still gushing bright red blood, clearly indicating that the person was just killed.
Seeing this scene before her, and recalling what Zhou Ziwei had just said, as well as the three silver lights that Zhou Ziwei had just absorbed into his "body," Chen Linlin's vision suddenly went black...
Sword immortals... So sword immortals really exist in this world.
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 234: Testing the Soul Bead
Fortunately, Chen Linlin had a strong will; after swaying for a moment, she didn't faint.
Zhou Ziwei, however, seemed oblivious to all of this, remaining standing motionless facing the corpses. It wasn't until Chen Linlin felt she was gradually accepting what was happening before her eyes, and accepting Zhou Ziwei's self-proclaimed identity as a sword immortal, that she suddenly saw eight tiny black beads, the size of rice grains, appear out of thin air in front of Zhou Ziwei almost simultaneously.
Then Zhou Ziwei reached out and grabbed all eight black beads that were floating in mid-air, then put them into his jacket pocket.
These... these are the souls of these people.
Upon seeing this scene, Chen Linlin felt a chill run down her spine. She clearly remembered that Zhou Ziwei had already collected several such beads in the garage. At that time... she even wanted to ask Zhou Ziwei for one... God... thankfully Zhou Ziwei didn't give her the bead back then, otherwise she would have been scared to death.
"Alright... let's go!" Zhou Ziwei put away the eight newly condensed soul beads, then walked towards the road without even glancing at Chen Linlin.
"Ah... wait for me..." Although she knew that Zhou Ziwei had more than a dozen small beads made from ghosts on his body, which made Chen Linlin feel uneasy whenever she saw him, she still didn't dare to stay there alone after seeing the eight corpses lying haphazardly in the farmland. She stumbled after Zhou Ziwei and wanted to grab his arm, but she trembled and withdrew her hand, obediently following behind him back to the car.
Zhou Ziwei did not go to the farmland on the right to search for soul-refining beads. Just now, when the assassins surrounded him from all sides, Zhou Ziwei had asked Ladybug and Mosquito to deal with the assassins in the cars coming from the less crowded sides of the road, while he was responsible for dealing with the assassins sneaking in from the farmland on the left and right.
Since he only had three new-style cross-shaped darts that had created independent souls and perfectly integrated them with the dart body, he divided the three new-style cross-shaped darts into two groups and released them on both sides of the farmland.
At that time, Zhou Ziwei sensed that there were eight assassins sneaking in on the left side of the farmland, while there were only five assassins on the right side. So he controlled two new-style cross darts to fly to the left, while only one new-style cross dart was thrown to the right.
To Zhou Ziwei's surprise, although there weren't many people on the right side of the farmland, their weapons were quite formidable. They not only had high-efficiency sniper rifles, but also a long-range rocket launcher.
It seems that the Night Elves are going all in this time, regardless of the consequences, to hunt down Chen Linlin. Otherwise, they will have lost nearly half of their assassins. If they fail to complete the mission, not only will their strength be greatly reduced, but their reputation in the underworld will also suffer. In that case, it will be difficult for them to regain their original strength.
Although Zhou Ziwei could accurately sense the killing intent that the assassins inadvertently released, this sensing could only be used for location at most, and it was impossible to sense the specific strength of these people or the weapons they carried. It wasn't until the new-style cross-shaped dart flew close that Zhou Ziwei suddenly noticed that one of the people had stopped before even entering the effective firing range. Zhou Ziwei immediately sensed that something was wrong, so he quickly strengthened the connection between his soul and the independent soul entity in the new-style cross-shaped dart, and emitted a few strands of soul power through the new-style cross-shaped dart. Only then did he see that the assassin who had stopped was actually carrying a rocket launcher and aiming it at their vehicle, seemingly about to fire.
It must be said that... after Zhou Ziwei underwent repeated transformations in his soul power, the communication between him and the independent soul entities he created also became closer.
Back when Zhou Ziwei had just figured out the basics and created only a few independent soul entities, he was already able to transmit soul power to those simple independent soul entities he had created at close range.
Now, this ability has naturally increased many times over. He can now not only teleport soul power to independent soul bodies over long distances, but the number of souls he can teleport has also greatly increased.
Most importantly, he can also release this transmitted soul power through an independent soul entity, as if he were actually scanning it.
Otherwise, although those new cross-shaped darts possessed independent souls, they were still different from living beings. They did not have a sensory system like living organisms, so Zhou Ziwei could not observe the scene where the ladybug was located through the ladybug's sensory system.
The ability to transmit soul power and radiate it out of an independent soul body makes up for this, but this consumes a huge amount of soul power, and the consumption increases with the distance. Zhou Ziwei would never do this unless it was absolutely necessary.
Zhou Ziwei had just "seen" the assassin carrying a rocket launcher who was about to fire it using this method, and in his shock, he immediately unleashed a soul roar in that direction.
Because the situation was extremely critical, Zhou Ziwei didn't have time to carefully control the intensity and angle of his roar. That soul roar was almost the strongest soul attack Zhou Ziwei could achieve at that stage, directly consuming nearly five hundred remnant souls' worth of soul power.
Even Chen Linlin, who was sitting behind Zhou Ziwei, was almost knocked unconscious by this soul-stirring roar, which shows just how terrifying the power of Zhou Ziwei's roar was.
The five assassins were instantly killed without the slightest suspense, their souls shattered by the soul-stirring roar.
After their souls dissipated, those souls almost instantly turned into free energy and completely dissipated into the air. Zhou Ziwei naturally could no longer use their souls to refine soul beads.
This time, the soul roar consumed such a huge amount of energy, yet not a single soul pearl could be retrieved, causing Zhou Ziwei to feel a pang of regret.
Next, he drove to the road ahead and ruthlessly killed the assassins who had been poisoned by the mosquitoes and fallen into a coma, and immediately refined their newly formed souls into soul beads.
This left only the souls of the assassins that the ladybug was responsible for killing, which had not yet been collected. However, before Zhou Ziwei could drive over again, several souls had already woken up from their initial confusion and rushed towards Zhou Ziwei and Chen Linlin.
This saved Zhou Ziwei a lot of trouble. He simply sat in the car and refined all the newborn ghosts who had come to "die" into black soul beads.
After doing all this, Zhou Ziwei got out of the car again, took out the guy who was still unconscious from being poisoned by mosquitoes and had been hiding in the trunk, threw him on the ground, and slapped the assassin's face more than a dozen times until the guy's face looked like a freshly cooked braised pig's head. Only then did the unlucky guy finally wake up in a daze.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but marvel inwardly. It seemed that the mosquito's venom was truly extraordinary. Although its venom wouldn't kill, judging from its appearance, it could easily make someone fall into a deep sleep for three days and three nights.
The assassin had just woken up and was clearly not quite clear-headed yet. However, perhaps out of instinct, he immediately jumped up the moment he woke up and quickly reached for his body with both hands.
However, Zhou Ziwei had already confiscated everything on him that could be called a weapon, so his frantic groping yielded nothing. This made him even more panicked, and without thinking about directions, he immediately started to run away.
But Zhou Ziwei wasn't about to let him get away. With a cold snort, he simply drew a circle in front of the unfortunate fellow, and the guy immediately seemed to sink into an endless swamp, unable to move an inch.
"Swallow this thing..."
Zhou Ziwei spared the man's life to test the effects of the Soul Bead. He immediately took out a black Soul Bead and, regardless of whether the assassin was willing or not, forced it into the man's mouth.
The assassin probably thought Zhou Ziwei had forced him to swallow the poison, and his face turned ashen. However, he was quite tough and knew that he was probably going to die if he fell into Zhou Ziwei's hands, so he didn't dare to hold out any hope. He just stared at Zhou Ziwei with a cold face, gritting his teeth as if he wanted to eat him.
Zhou Ziwei completely ignored him. After putting the soul bead into the assassin's mouth, he immediately used a wisp of his soul power to follow the soul bead and enter the assassin's body, closely observing the changes in the soul bead.
Just as Zhou Ziwei had predicted, the soul bead, the size of a grain of rice, became extremely active immediately after entering a living person's body. In less than two minutes, it slowly began to atomize, then rose higher and higher like a mushroom cloud rising from the ground, until finally, through the human body's well-developed nerves, it was completely absorbed into that person's soul...
"Ah..." At the same time, the assassin let out a deafening scream, and then, like Sun Wukong being tortured by Tang Sanzang, he clutched his head and rolled on the ground in pain.
Could it be that useless?! How could this... have turned out like this?!
At first, Zhou Ziwei was extremely excited to see that the Soul Bead could actually be absorbed by the living, but he didn't expect that the assassin would be tortured to the point of wishing for death in the blink of an eye. This shows that even if the Soul Bead really is useful to ordinary people, it is really too domineering.
Until the very end… as the assassin let out an extremely piercing scream of pain, his head suddenly exploded with a muffled thud, followed by blood flowing from his seven orifices as he died…
Zhou Ziwei stared blankly at the assassin who had just died for a long time before secretly rejoicing that he hadn't carelessly given the thing to Liu Xiaofei, otherwise the consequences would have been... But why was this? Since it was pure energy that could be absorbed, why did it... Could it be because the amount was too large, while his sea of souls had a very small capacity, thus causing this result?
After careful consideration, Zhou Ziwei felt that this possibility was quite high, but at the moment there were no more prisoners for him to experiment on. It seemed that he could only wait for another opportunity. Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei could only shake his head helplessly, and then immediately got into the car, completely ignoring Chen Linlin's eyes that looked like she had seen a devil, and drove directly to the city...
Before even entering the city, we saw police cars blaring everywhere, and squads of armed police officers setting up roadblocks at major intersections to check passing vehicles.
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei knew that as he led Chen Linlin out of the Workers' Stadium, the Dark Elves would probably immediately lift the blockade, thus exposing the changes there.
Indeed, that was the case. You see, anyone who walks out of there is a big star who can cause a sensation. There were also many reporters from various media outlets who came with the performance troupe. Seeing that such a big thing had happened, how could they let go of such shocking news material? Immediately, someone used a laptop to expose it online, along with close-up photos of corpses lying all over the ground and celebrities in a panic.
This made it impossible for the authorities to cover up the facts, and the seriousness of the incident escalated dramatically.
Even if the authorities didn't want to ignore it, they couldn't. Several Hong Kong entertainment tycoons simultaneously sent strongly worded phone calls questioning them, and Chen Linlin's father even went so far as to pass the pressure directly to the central government through the Hong Kong Chief Executive.
This naturally increased the pressure on Tonghai officials many times over, and even the central government was alarmed. If they don't act quickly to quell the impact of this incident, the city's leaders might have to relocate!
After some investigation, it was discovered that the other celebrities were only slightly frightened, but Xiao Yushen, currently the most popular and sexy female star in all of Asia, was knocked unconscious in the garage, while Chen Linlin was completely missing. This result immediately scared the city's leaders half to death. Although Chen Linlin's status in the entertainment industry was not as high as Xiao Yushen's, Chen Linlin's father was extremely influential in Hong Kong. If something really happened to Chen Linlin, the consequences for them would probably be more than just being moved. Therefore, how could they not mobilize all their resources to search for Chen Linlin's whereabouts?
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei naturally didn't want to run into the authorities, so he stopped the Bentley on the side of the road a few hundred meters away from the armed police roadblock. He said to Chen Linlin, who was still trembling with fear, "About my affairs... I don't want them to come out of your mouth. I think... you won't talk nonsense, right?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Linlin hurriedly nodded frantically, saying, "Yes... I... I will never tell anyone, you believe me... I will definitely keep this secret." After saying that, she subconsciously moved her body closer to the car door, looking at Zhou Ziwei with a terrified expression, as if she was worried that Zhou Ziwei would kill her to silence her.
Zhou Ziwei smiled and shook his head. Of course, he wouldn't kill Chen Linlin. In fact, he had deliberately revealed his special abilities to Chen Linlin just now, hoping to completely shock her and prevent her from betraying him no matter what.
Even if Chen Linlin were to tell him everything she had experienced, Zhou Ziwei wouldn't be afraid. He believed that the more truthful Chen Linlin was, the less people would believe her. If she were to actually say something like a sword immortal had saved her, she would probably end up being sent to a mental hospital for treatment. Besides, Zhou Ziwei had never revealed his true colors, so even if Chen Linlin's words did attract attention, so what?
Despite the extremely strict police checks throughout the city, they were ineffective for Zhou Ziwei, instead giving him the opportunity to experience the feeling of high-speed running.